When the iPhone 14 line from Apple came out in November, the Emergency SOS via satellite feature was only available in the U.S. and Canada. Now, Apple has brought this service to France, Germany, Ireland, and the UK in Europe. This feature is only available on the iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max. It lets users send an SOS message via satellite even when there is no other way to connect.
The feature tells the user to call 911, and if the call doesn’t go through, it gives them the option to send an emergency text message through satellite. The user then has to answer a short survey about the nature of their emergency and point the phone toward the sky to send the message to a satellite. Apple’s Find My app can also be used to share the user’s location using this feature.
Apple has teamed up with the satellite communications company Globalstar to make this feature, which should work anywhere in the world. The company says that “next year.” it will add support for more countries.
Right now, everyone can use Emergency SOS via satellite for free, but that might change in the future. Currently, the service is free for two years when you activate a new iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro, or iPhone 14 Pro Max.